


Spray Cans and New Beginnings

by ghostpun



Series: Birdmen Ghost Hunters AU [1]
Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Gen, Ghost Hunters, Ghosts, Mainly just symbols and like. A murder but u don’t know that, Original Character(s), Some violence but no one gets really hurt, T for cussing and spoooooky, Vague cult stuff implied, it’s Halloween YALL!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-02-01 22:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21255713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostpun/pseuds/ghostpun
Summary: A look into the very first investigation the bird club did as a group(Aka something for my ghost Hunters AU...happy Halloween!)
Relationships: Kamoda Mikisada & Karasuma Eishi, Karasuma Eishi & Bird Club, Karasuma Eishi & Sagisawa Rei, Karasuma Eishi & Takayama Sou, Karasuma Eishi & Umino Tsubame, im setting up the foundation for takaeishi but u wouldn’t notice i did unless u were looking for it
Series: Birdmen Ghost Hunters AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1168847
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Spray Cans and New Beginnings

Karasuma was starting to get annoyed.

The cool October air nips at his nose as he stands on the sidewalk, tapping his foot as his patience wears thinner and thinner.

“Where is he?” Karasuma huffs, adjusting his satchel’s strap on his shoulder. “I told him if he didn’t show up by 21:00 we’d go into the house without him.”

“It’s only 20:58, Eishi.” Kamoda reminds, leaning against a nearby tree. 

“I told you it was a bad idea to invite your friend along!”

“He’d make a great addition! Plus, he’s really nice!!”

“And popular.” Karasuma grumbles, pulling out his camera to fiddle with the focus. “Sagisawa’s probably going to set one foot into this house, get spooked, then flee. Then, I don’t know, tell the whole school we tried to kill him or something.”

“Don't be so dramatic, he’s not even like that!” He looks ahead before suddenly perking up. “There he is!!” Kamoda waves at two figures in the distance, the lanky light-haired boy and-

“Is that a girl?” Kamoda gapes, as the brown haired boy-and a blue-haired girl??- jog up to meet them.

Sagisawa smiles, adjusts his beanie that had been tilted during the jog. “Sorry I’m late!” 

“I thought it went unsaid to come alone?! Who is this?!” Karasuma yelps, clutching onto his camera.

The girl, dressed in a blue varsity jacket and a long skirt, practically exhumes energy as she raises her hand in greeting.

“Hi! I’m Umino Tsubame! Can I tag along?!?” Her giga-watt smile practically blinds the two unsuspecting boys.

Kamoda nervously averts from making eye contact with her, “Well…”

“Pleaaaase?” Umino begs, grasping her hands as her eyes bore into Kamoda. “I really want to see some ghosts!”

“She’s really fast and strong,” Sagisawa offers from the side, “Star of her soccer team, so you don’t have to worry!”

_ Please say no. _ Karasuma glares at the back of his best friend’s head, hoping he somehow hears him.

“Welcome aboard!” Kamoda grins, annoyingly ignoring Karasuma’s silent plea, puffing out his chest and placing his hands on his hips. Karasuma groans into his hand. What started years ago as just a fun activity between two friends had suddenly doubled in party size in just one day. Great. Whatever.

“Let’s get started.” Karasuma says, flipping the camera recorder open and taking some shots of the abandoned place. It’s run down, in a segment of Tokyo that’s neither lavish nor popular. The house had dark wood, a rarer sight now-a-days, and was obviously old: boards chipping off and graffiti riddled all over.

“So, what’s the story?” Sagisawa asks from the side.

“Nothing much. The place has been abandoned since the 60’s. Teen gangs used to hang out here. There are some rumors of murders, some supposed ghosts.”

“I heard the spirits here can be super violent.” Umino says, scanning the house and its boarded up windows.

Karasuma dismisses the idea with a wave of his free hand. “People exaggerate. There’s probably just some animals in the walls.”

Kamoda tilts down to whisper to the other two:  _ “He doesn’t believe in ghosts.” _ The short boy merely rolls his eyes and adjusts his glasses. “I’m going in without you guys.” 

He crosses the street before the others catch up, making his way to the door. He’s about to open it, when he notices a green spray can laying in the grass. Some stray artist must have accidentally left while in a hurry to avoid cops. When he picks it up and inspects it, Karasuma bewildered at it being bizarrely full, despite the can’s brand having not been in business since the 70’s. 

The can is just weird enough that Karasuma stuffs it into his satchel to investigate later, closing the flap and promptly forgetting about it right as Kamoda and his new friends catch up to the door. 

Karasuma jiggles the doorknob, but it doesn’t budge. He shifts his weight, applies barely any pressure upwards, and the door creaks and gives in, opening up to the house’s interior.

“Huh. Usually it’s harder than that.”

“Maybe they’re expecting us!” Kamoda chirps.

“Maybe the door is just old.” Karasuma quips and digs through his bag, tossing some flashlights at the two tag-alongs.

The camera focuses on Umino as she flicks hers on, the bottom half of her face illuminating in the dark. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“Proof!” Kamoda thumps on the bottom of his flashlight until it blinks on. “I’m trying to win a bet that ghosts are real.”

“You’re never going to find anything, baldy.”

Kamoda playfully pushes his best friend’s head down as he moves past, walking backwards into the house. “We’re looking for any signs really! We want to catch it on camera. For science!!”

Umino grins, before entering in behind and flashing her light around the room, before stopping at a particular wall.

“Is that a summoning circle?” She asks.

Karasuma whistles unemotionally, shines his own light on the floor. “Two, actually.” The camera points down at the giant symbol surrounding them, full of scrawled gibberish in bright red painted letters.

Kamoda groans. “I was hoping not to edge into demon territory this time.”

Sagisawa forces out like a puff of hot air that could be interpreted as nervous laughter while rolling his flashlight back and forth in the palms of his hands.

“Scared?” Karasuma smirks, turning the camera away from the floor to get a good scope of the full room.

“Nope!” Sagisawa denies, wobbling forward and around the room, avoiding the overturned furniture. “It’s just cold!”

“Mmhm.” 

They continue onwards, deciding to circle back later, and enter the hallway.

Karasuma creaks the first door on the left open, flicks his flashlight into the room.

A figure, standing off to the side facing the wall, is illuminated by the dim light.

“The  _ fuck- _ “

It turns around, spiky hair fully visible now.

“Oh.” Karasuma grunts. “It’s you.”

Kamoda leans over Karasuma through the doorway. “Is it a ghost?”

Karasuma sighs, turning his camera off with a clack, “It’s just Takayama.”

The taller boy gasps. “Takayama’s dead?!”

“What?! No!”

“Who’s Takayama?” Sagisawa asks, peaking in the door frame as well.

Takayama shifts from his weird position, walking over to the group.

“I like your jacket!” Umino says, peering under Sagisawa’s arm.

Takayama adjusts the aviator jacket he’s wearing, as if he forgot he was wearing it. “Oh...thanks. I like yours, too.”

She smiles at the compliment, makes her way through the blockade of boys in the doorframe to go talk with the stranger. Karasuma decides to backtrack back into the hall before answering Sagisawa.

“He’s in my class, and kind of off, honestly. We occasionally run into him at these sites.”

Karasuma still remembers the first night they bumped into each other. A cold cemetery, dying camera batteries, and Takayama had appeared out of nowhere-he had jumped down from a tree, Karasuma would later find out-scaring them half to death. 

_ “What the fuck?! What’s wrong with you?” Karasuma shrieked, recovering from his near heart-attack. _

_ Takayama, face shrouded in shadow, doesn’t address the question. “It’s not safe for you two to be out here. Spirits don’t like being disrespected.” _

_ Karasuma takes a second to process. “Is that supposed to scare me?” His laced his voice with venom, not willing to buy an ounce of whatever bullshit the weirdo from the back of the class had to say.  _

_ “Eichan,” Kamoda had whined, tugging on his friend’s flannel for him to stop, but Karasuma paid him no attention. His heart was pounding: a combination of adrenaline, confusion, and the fact that under the sharp moonlight Takayama’s eyes glowed red. _

Current-time Kamoda snorts, snapping Karasuma out of his memories. “Yeah, but you like when we ru-OW!“ 

“Shut up!! _ ” _ The other hisses, elbowing him in the stomach and praying Sagisawa didn’t pick up on to what Kamoda almost said. 

“So, why are you here?” Karasuma asks, turning away from this particularly personal and embarrassing conversation to glare at the classmate in question.

“It’s nice here.” Takayama replies, smile on his lips.

“I guess you didn’t see the pentagrams.” Karasuma retorts, scoffing at Takayama’s dismissive shrug.

Umino bounces on her heels and surveys the room for any signs of ghosts. “Are you gonna join us?” 

“No, I don’t plan on getting involved-” 

“Why not? You must know a lot about this stuff, if you come here just to hang?” Sagisawa observes, stepping into the room.

“It’s because he’s a medium!” Kamoda grins, thumping Takayama, who doesn't even flinch, on the back. “He talks to ghosts and stuff.”

“A medium, huh?” Sagisawa nods, “That could be really helpful on our future endeavors.”

“Hey, wait, ‘ _ our? _ ’”

“C’mon, Kara! Wouldn’t he be helpful?” Umino sings. Since when did he get a nickname!? “We can’t ghost-hunt without someone who sees ghosts!”

“I-“ Karasuma stammers, suddenly feeling the eyes from the other four in the room. “I-I don’t-“ 

He darts his eyes around the other four: Umino and Kamoda are ecstatic, Sagisawa chuckles nervously at the whole situation, and Takayama shoves his hands into his pockets and curls the corners of his mouth into a smile. Ugh.

“I guess he can tag along.” Karasuma grumbles out, turning on his heel and fuming out into the hallway and back into the living room as Kamoda and Umino whoop in excitement.

Sagisawa follows suite, “Is he actually a medium?” 

The raven-haired boy kicks the ground, knocking over a few melted candle sticks. “Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Right.” Sagisawa smiles, not particularly reassured. “Not real, haha.”

He glares up at the popular boy. “Why’d you even come if you’re so scared?” He doesn’t even attempt to hide his bitterness, but he does feel a twinge of guilt when Sagisawa’s face flashes with hurt.

“Why are you so upset that we tagged along?”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“So are you.”

Neither attempt to speak or move, and Karasuma curses inwardly for now being trapped in this awkward tension. He refuses to do anything however, his stubbornness only grows the longer the pause lengthens, and Karasuma decides to instead fiddle with his camera and adjust the focus on a broken painting nearby. Behind him, he can feel Sagisawa’s eyes trying to pry into him, but Karasuma’s resolve stays.

From the hallway behind them, a door slams open, hitting the wall with a jarring  _ crack _ , causing Sagisawa to let out a high-pitched scream. Karasuma whirls the camera around to see Umino in the doorframe, having kicked the hinges out. 

“Tsubame!” Sagisawa whines, “Why’d you have to scare me like that?!”

Umino crosses her arms. “I wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t closed the door and caused it to jam!”

Karasuma tilts the camera up to capture the side of Sagisawa’s confused face: “I didn’t close the door though…”

Appearing from behind Umino, Kamoda grins, flaring his hands out in jazz hands for extra emphasis.“What if a ghost did it!” 

“You probably just forgot you closed it.” Karasuma rolls his eyes, not willing to play along for even a minute. He instead shines his flashlight further down the hall, takes in the two additional rooms. On his left was an open room, most likely the kitchen, and on the right a bathroom. At the center wall conjoining the two walls, another painted symbol stands, with some knives plunged around in no particular pattern. “So who wants which room before we go upstairs?” 

Umino walks over and stands at the intersection of the two rooms, scanning each side before catching something of interest on her left and swiftly entering the kitchen. Sagisawa takes one look at the wall of knives and follows his friend. 

Karasuma lets out a sigh, part exasperation and part relief that this night was slightly back to normal for the moment: just Kamoda and Karasuma exploring a site, and Takayama dawdling in the background. “Guess we’ll take the bathroom.” 

The door is left askew, and peering inside the tiny room leaves little to the imagination. Everything is riddled with paint, mud, and cigarette butts; the toilet plunged full of junk from teens using it as a disposal for their empty chip bags and soda cans. The walls are surrounded by carved in cuss words and more symbols, but most are covered up by art after art from some graffiti artist with way too much time on their hands.

A sink sits in the corner, murky brownish-red water with plunges of swimming black hair, and a small switchblade on the edge. It reeks of alcohol and cigarettes, and Karasuma pulls the front of his hoodie up to cover his nose from it. Gross.

Takayama peers into the room from the hall, glancing at the garbage and some broken glass on the floor. 

“So?” Karasuma chides, gesturing around, “Getting any _otherworldly_ _vibes_?”

Takayama doesn’t take the bait, merely kneels down and swipes his finger over the fine white line that lays in the opening of the door. 

“Ew, Takayama, you don’t even know what that is.”

“It’s salt.” He rubs the powder between his pointer finger and thumb before pointing to the line. “The line’s not drawn the whole way.” He looks up, the familiar unsettling shadow covering his face. “Whatever they tried to keep in didn’t stay.”

“Encouraging.” Karasuma deadpans.

“E-Even if whatever was in here left, this place still freaks me out.” Kamoda whimpers, finger hovering a few inches away from some blood by the sink. “I don’t want to be here any longer than necessary.” He glances up into the mirror, stares for a second before whipping his head around and staring at the ceiling. He repeats the motion a few times in disbelief.

“Eishi, I SWEAR I just saw something.”

Karasuma barely looks up at him from where he’s squatting by the wall, getting a good camera shot of some of the not painted upon symbols. “The graffiti’s probably tripped you up.”

“I’m serious! It was only for a moment but I swear some object floating by the ceiling. Takayama, c’mon did you see!?” 

The teen only shrugs. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

Kamoda‘s face pales and looks like it’s getting closer to the green shade of his sweater by the second. He glances from the mirror to the hallway. “I think I’m going to check up on the other two.” He weakly stammers, sidestepping around the room and practically jogging across the hall and into the kitchen.

Karasuma raises an eyebrow as his best friend passes, walks over to the mirror Kamoda was just at. It reflects back like normal, graffiti of abstract shapes stamped on the wall behind him. Karasuma shakes his head and mumbles to himself: “He’s always so excited about ghost hunting...his brain just shows him what he wants.”

Takayama’s voice pipes up from the side, where he’s leaning against the doorframe. “Do you still not believe in ghosts?”

Karasuma traces his hand over one of the graffitied initials WK on the wall. “You make it sound like there’s something to believe in.” He glances at his classmate, unwavering under the spiky haired boy’s intense stare. 

“You’d be surprised.” Takayama grins, before his eyes flash red like the time they’d first met, and he swiftly turns and stalks out into the hallway as if his name was called.

Karasuma all but scoffs at him. He can never figure out what Takayama’s deal is, and despite the fact that that was a mystery that itched and ate away at him, Karasuma has decidedly concluded that he didn’t care enough to search out an answer. 

He starts to head back out to join the others when his foot collides with something solid. He glances down, finds two spray cans at his feet. One purple the other an electric yellow. They look familiar.

He goes to pick up the purple and inspect its ingredients, but the can’s sudden vibration has him dropping it in shock. Before it hits the ground, the nozzle lets out an unnatural  _ hiss _ , and starts spraying purple paint in a wide circle as it violently propels itself round and round. 

It doesn’t seem like it’s going to fizzle out anytime soon, and Karasuma decides now would be a  _ fantastic _ time to leave, before noticing that the door had been shut behind him. 

Takayama, that bastard, must have shut it on his way out. All these doors jam way too fucking easily, and Umino already had to kick one door in, so Karasuma feebly attempts to shoulder his way in despite have the strength of a piece of paper.

“Ugh, this is annoying.” Karasuma groans, eyeing the purple can still spinning in violent rotations. He thumps on the door a couple more times before slumping his back against the door and instead focus on the ceiling until Kamoda realizes he’s taking too long. The ceiling is full of dots of red paint, in such a sporadic manner Karasuma can’t find any meaning to it. It looks like someone just threw a can into the air and let the dark red paint splatter where it will. A sentence in green reads: “I have not left.” with the name signed “Watanabe Kotomi.”

The door clicks behind him, and Sagisawa swiftly opens the door to look down at Karasuma.

“Door jammed?”

“Like the rest of them.” Karasuma adjusts his glasses and ducks below the beanstalk teen’s arm. “Anything interesting in the kitchen?”

Umino shines her light behind Karasuma. “The fridge was pretty gross, saw a couple more symbols and a cheesy message painted using ketchup packets that reads ‘geeeeeettttt ouuuuuuuuutttttt.’” Umino grins as she exaggerates the sounds. “I heard you guys saw something!”

“More like Kamoda  _ thought  _ he saw something.” 

“Because I DID!” Kamoda squawks. “I think im going to have nightmares for the next two weeks.” He adjusts the beanie-which he somehow stole from Sagisawa-on his head

Sagisawa glances around the hall. “Where’s the medium?” 

Karasuma shrugs. “He does his own thing. C’mon, let’s go upstairs.”

“Then are we done here?” Kamoda shifts around and takes the lead through the living room.

“Someone’s eager to leave.”

“This place is freaky!” Kamoda whines. “Don’t tell me you haven’t felt off since entering this place.”

“Yeah it’s called ‘getting nauseous from the paint fumes.’”

“Something does feel off though.” Sagisawa offers from behind Karasuma as they trek up the creaky stairs. “The people who were here before definitely didn’t come here for book club.”

“What if they come back?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Karasuma says, reaching the final steps. “The summoning circles are decades old. The only new thing here is the graffiti that litters the bathroom walls.” 

“Looks like the artist was busy up here too.” Sagisawa remarks, point around.

The upstairs floor was less of a second floor and more like an attic. It was a big, singular room, with any resemblance of it once being a bedroom left in vague outlines of bed posts and a desk and chair set pushed against the far corner of the room. The walls are fully covered with purple tallies, the 正 overlapping each other as the artist loops around the room. 

On the floor, a giant graffiti portrait of words repeated over and over is sprayed with combinations of green, purple and gold. However, there lies a giant blank circle in the center of the room.

Umino gestures to it. “Isn’t the summoning circle in the main room right below this?”

“Huh… it is.” Karasuma blinks, curiosity sparking at the precision that it must’ve taken to copy it. He points his camera to the floor, trying to get a better shot at deciphering the words. No luck, whatever has been written here has been repeated so often the words have melded together. He looks down at the edge where graffiti ends and the circle begins, and its jarringly clean-cut. 

Karasuma reaches his hand down before a hand grabs his jacket sleeve, jarring him enough to let out a yelp and thud his ass on the floor.

“Don’t touch the circle.” Takayama warns, glaring as he squats beside his classmate.

“Seriously, what the fuck?! Where’d you even come from???” Karasuma rips his arm away from the other before getting up and bitterly stomping away from the circle. Takayama doesn’t budge, instead taking a shot at deciphering the words on the floor himself.

“I think this room is worse than the bathroom.” Kamoda shivers, staring at the tally marks on the wall. “It’s giving me the creeps, Eichan.”

Sagisawa stands nearby and worryingly eyeing around him. “Me too…”

“Calm down, nothing’s happening.” Sagisawa huffs at Karasuma’s blunt eye roll.

Umino leans over Takayama’s shoulder where he stays kneeled on the ground. “Can you tell what it’s saying?”

He almost looks hesitant to answer. “We should leave.”

Confusion crosses over her face, looking over at Karasuma before gasping at something behind him.

“What-” Karasuma starts to say, trying to turn around before something slams into his back and he’s sent careening to the floor, camera skidding a few feet away. Someone lets out a scream, and Karasuma’s instincts take over as he scrambles for the camera and turns around. A chair lays still.

“The c-chair floated!” Sagisawa gasps.

Karasuma blinks in disbelief, his back hurting like a bitch and adrenaline pounding in his ears. “What?!” 

He tries to assess the damage to his camera, smacking it a couple times before the screen looks back to normal. He cusses, before he looks up to see the rest of the table set beginning to move ever slowly. 

“Shit!” Karasuma yells, as the remaining chairs and wooden table start flying at him. Kamoda screams his name, and Karasuma’s body locks up as it braces for imminent impact-before he’s roughly tackled out of the way. 

He opens his eyes to see the camera once again ripped out of his hands and be slammed into by the table, sending both crashing against the wall the railings by the stairs before thudding down.

Takayama looks down at him. “Still think ghosts aren’t real?”

Karasuma feels his face flush red as he pushes him away. 

“Fuck off.” 

Takayama, who usually cracks a smile after a biting remark, doesn’t say a word, merely focuses on something on the other side of the room. Which was odd, because the others were by the stairs and everything had been moved away.

Takayama stares into the empty space. “What are you doing?” He calls, calm.

Kamoda starts yelling at them both to get their butts over here so they can leave, and Karasuma gets up and is ready to move, but notices Takayama still hasn’t budged. He cusses a bit, before snatching the other’s hand, surprising Takayama, and they both start to book it, Takayama easily gaining speed and racing ahead as they march down the stairs hands still entwined.

Karasuma peeks over his shoulder and almost trips over the next step as he glimpses an image of a teenage girl in dark blue and flowing black hair before the line of vision is cut off. 

The others are already on the ground floor and by the door, desperately trying to get it open but to no avail. 

Karasuma can vaguely hear Sagisawa and Umino frantically talking to Kamoda as they try to combine their strengths on the door, but Karasuma feels extremely dizzy. He barely makes it off the final step without collapsing, placing both hands on Takayama’s shoulder for support.

“Did you hit your head?”

“Probably twice.” Karasuma slurs a bit, rubbing his own forehead. “I mean, I saw a girl in an old highschool sailor uniform.” 

Takayama’s eyes widen. “What?”

Before Karasuma can think to reply, the doors in the hallway fly open all at once and crash against their walls as a violent wind starts knocking things off the shelves.

A teen girl’s voice surrounds the room. “GIVE IT BACK.” 

Kamoda and the rest of the group scream as they back away from the main door, purple paint appearing on the wood spelling out “THIEF.” It repeats itself on the next available space over and over.

Takayama stares at where the paint is forming. “What are you looking for?” He yells. “Who stole from you?”

Karasuma can’t hear any answer, but notices that a wind passes over five candles, and suddenly light from where they are. He only has a few seconds to dive out of the way as they’re sent careening past him and splatter against a portrait.

“Not to be rude, but it seems like she’s going after you!” Sagisawa yells, the wind in the room picking up.

“Did you do something!?” Umino yells, ducking by a shelf.

“No!” Karasuma yells. 

“We need to work quickly.” Takayama says loud enough to hear. “Talk to her and get her to come near you!” He bolts off to the side of a wall and starts fumbling with his pockets looking for something.

“How do I talk to something I can’t even understand?!”

“Just do what you always do Eichan!” Kamoda yells. “Make fun of it or something!”

“WH?????????” 

Takayama starts moving down the halfway point of the room, a fine salt line forming in his trail.

Karasuma clears his throat and starts moving away from the corner of the room.

“So, you think I stole something?” 

Takayama signals him to keep going, eyes the supposed spirit so Karasuma can keep track of her placement.

“Well MAYBE I would’ve given it back if you hadn’t crushed my camera.” Karasuma yells, looking around. “Oh, you didn’t think I’d forget, huh? You can’t just smash my camera with a table and expect me to play nice!” The roaring of the wind picks up, and despite the fact he can’t see the ghost, he can feel her presence looming closer and closer. He side steps closer to the line Takayama has by now finished, when a knife from the far end of the hall dislodges and flies at him, causing him to jump out of away and to the side. Sagisawa screams as it crosses the line and falls immediately at his feet. Nearby Kamoda shoulders the door open with ease, as the spirit no longer had any hold on it. None of them move, waiting for Karasuma to cross before getting out.

The butcher knife barely misses Karasuma’s ear and hits the wall next to him, and he has a good feeling that staying any longer on this side of the line will eventually lead to him being skewered. He looks at the line, looks at the chaotic room and the faintest outline of the girl, and decidedly books it. 

He’s only a couple feet away before a floorboard is ripped loose causing him to trip and faceplant on the floor. Luckily, the rest are still there, and everyone grabs some part of him and haul his ass over the line for good.

Karasuma sits on the floor, staring at the storm that stirs inside the closed off zone.

“You can see her, right?” Karasuma mumbles next to Takayama.

“Yep.”

“And?”

“She’s not happy.”

Karasuma lets out a snort of hollow laughter. “No shit.” 

Takayama looks over at the door, spotting the can of purple spray paint. He reaches out to grab it, picking it up and tossing it over the line to join the yellow one.

“Why’d you do that?” Kamoda gapes.

Takayama doesn’t look at them. “It’s part of her set...she’s already lost enough.”

Karasuma blinks. Takes a second to connect the dots, before he lets out a bewildered, brief laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He starts to dig through his satchel and pulls out the green spray can. “I found this outside before we even started.”

Sagisawa lets out a mixture of a wheeze and laughter, slumping his back against the wall. “Holy shit. You really accidentally made yourself a target. Please do me a favor and roll that over before she breaks the salt barrier herself to kill you.”

Karasuma does just that, and the room’s wind slows until it comes to a gentle stop.

“We did it!” Kamoda cheers. “She’s gone!” 

“No, she’s still there.” Takayama hums. “Just happy to have her art supplies back.”

“Happy for her, I really am, but can we please get out of here?” Umino begs, pointing to the open door.

Instead of answering, Sagisawa immediately sprints out, Kamoda close behind, and Umino laughs and jogs to catch up to them at the sidewalk..

Karasuma wobbly stands up, wincing at the bruises forming al over. He looks at Takayama. “Are you coming, are you going to hang out with the weird graffiti artist ghost?”

“Don’t insult her.”

“She tried to kill us, but okay.”

Takayama looks over to where the ghost sprays out some sort of drawing.   
“I can come back later.” He smiles.

They both head outside to where the other three are waiting.

Kamoda ruffles Karasuma’s head. “Guess I finally won that bet after 3 years!”

The teen shoves his hand off. “I still say it was the wind.”

“Whaaaaat?! You’re joking! The furniture flew at you and everything!”

“Must have been a crazy earthquake.”

“You’re just doing this on purpose!”

The two break out into laughter, light-hearted, and the others join as well at the whole night.

Sagisawa, still smiling, looks a lot more tired than the previous second. “That was fun, but I think I need to go home and like, maybe have a mental breakdown over ghosts being real.” Karasuma groans in agreement.

“When are we going to another site?”

“You want to go to another site after all of this!?!” Sagisawa yelps. 

“Yep, dragging you with me too!”

“No way!”

Umino grins. “Can we come along next time? There’s going to be a next time, right? You can’t just stop now!” 

Kamoda looks over at Karasuma, who cracks a smile. “Yeah, sure.”

Umino, Sagisawa, and Kamoda let out excited whoops and cheers and start discussing where to go next.

“You can come too, y’know.” Karasuma remarks to Takayama. “You usually show up anyways but...you’re invited.”

Takayama sticks his hands into his pockets. “I’ll be there.”

“Great. But first, I have some questions I’m going to need you to answer, medium.” He looks at the house behind them. “Tomorrow, though. First I need to go sleep for like 8 years.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was fun so if enough people like it I may do more chapters with more investigationssss  
Also follow my tumblr @tanjjiro or follow my birdmen ghost hunters @birds-and-boos ty for reading byeeeeee


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